The Transmission of Greek Classics to the Latin West
The transmission of Greek Classics to Latin Western Europe during the Middle Ages was a key factor in the development of intellectual life in Western Europe. Interest in Greek texts and their availability was scarce in the Latin West during the Early Middle Ages, but as traffic to the East increased, so did Western scholarship.
Classical Greek philosophy consisted of various original works ranging from those from Ancient Greece, such as Aristotle, to those of Greco-Roman scholars in the classical Roman Empire, such as Ptolemy. Though these works were originally written in Greek, for centuries, the language of scholarship in the Mediterranean region was often Syriac, Arabic, and Persian, and the original Greek versions were often unknown to the West. With increasing Western presence in the East due to the Crusades and the gradual collapse of the Byzantine Empire during the Late Middle Ages, many Byzantine Greek scholars fled to Western Europe, bringing with them many original Greek manuscripts and providing impetus for Greek-language education in the West and further translation efforts of Greek scholarship into Latin.
The line between Greek scholarship and Arab scholarship in Western Europe was very blurred during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Sometimes, the concept of the transmission of Greek Classics is often used to refer to the collective knowledge that was obtained from the Arab and Byzantine Empires, regardless of where the knowledge actually originated. However, being once and even twice removed from the original Greek, these Arabic versions were later supplanted by improved direct translations by William of Moerbeke and others in the 13th century and after.
The Decline of Greek Knowledge in the West
As knowledge of Greek declined in the West with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, so did knowledge of the Greek texts, many of which had remained without a Latin translation. The fragile nature of papyrus as a writing medium meant that older texts not copied onto expensive parchment would eventually crumble and be lost.
After the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) and the Sack of Constantinople (1204), scholars such as William of Moerbeke gained access to the original Greek texts of scientists and philosophers, including Aristotle, Archimedes, Hero of Alexandria, and Proclus, that had been preserved in the Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire and translated them directly into Latin.
The final decline and collapse of the Byzantine Empire in the fifteenth century heightened contact between its scholars and those of the West. Translation into Latin of the full range of Greek classics ensued, including the historians, poets, playwrights, and non-Aristotelian philosophers. Influential patrons, such as Basilios Bessarion and Pope Nicholas V, supported these translation efforts.
The Role of Syriac and Armenian in Preserving Greek Knowledge
Syriac and Armenian also played a significant role in the preservation and transmission of Greek knowledge. Armenia harbored libraries of Greek classical literature, and an Armenian codex of Aristotle is one of the main sources in the text-critical apparatus of today’s Greek text. Syriac translations also played a major role for the later reception into Arabic, with the Syriac-speaking Christian Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (809-873) being a particularly important translator.
Boethius and the Transmission of Greek Classics in the West
In Rome, Boethius propagated works of Greek classical learning, intending to pass on the great Greco-Roman culture to future generations. Boethius wrote manuals on music, astronomy, geometry, and arithmetic, drawing from the thinking of Porphyry and Iamblichus. His translations of Aristotle’s De interpretation and Categories, with commentaries, were widely used during the Middle Ages.
Boethius’ loose translation of Nicomachus’ treatise on arithmetic and his textbook on music contributed to medieval education. His translations of Euclid on geometry and Ptolemy on astronomy, if completed, no longer survive.
The Fragile Transmission of Greek Texts in the West
In the Western Provinces, what is today considered Western Europe’s heartland, the collapsing Roman Empire lost many Greek manuscripts that were not preserved by monasteries. However, due to the expense and dearth of writing materials, monastic scribes could recycle old parchments, a process known as palimpsest. Fortunately for modern scholars, the old writing can still be retrieved, and many extremely valuable works that would have otherwise been lost have been recovered in this way.
As the language of Roman aristocrats and scholars, Greek died off along with the Roman Empire in the West, and by 500 CE, almost no one in Western Europe was able to read or translate Greek texts. With the rise of the Islamic Empire, the West was further cut off from the language. After a while, only a few monasteries in the West had Greek works, and even fewer of them copied these works, mainly the Irish.
The Contributions of William of Moerbeke
William of Moerbeke was one of the most prolific and influential translators of Greek philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century. His contribution to the recovery of Aristotle in the 13th century undoubtedly helped in forming a clearer picture of Greek philosophy and particularly of Aristotle than was given by the Arabic versions, which had distorted or obscured the relation between Platonic and Aristotelian systems of philosophy. William’s translation of Proclus was also important, demonstrating that the influential book Liber de Causis was not a genuine work of Aristotle but rather derived from Proclus’ Elementatio Theologica.
The Transmission of Greek Ideas to the Islamic World
Arabic logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily, which became important centers for this transmission of ideas.
The main period of translation was during Abbasid rule. The 2nd Abbasid Caliph, al-Mansur, moved the capital from Damascus to Baghdad and founded a great library, the House of Wisdom, containing Greek Classical texts. Al-Mansur ordered this rich fund of world literature translated into Arabic, including works from Greek, Syriac, and Persian.
The Caliph al-Mamun also sent emissaries to the Byzantines to gather Greek manuscripts for his new university, making it a center for Greek translation work in the Arab world. At first, only practical works such as those on medicine and technology were sought after, but eventually, works on philosophy became popular.
The Rise of Islamic Philosophy
Al-Kindi, a famous logician and prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, is unanimously hailed as the father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy. His synthesis of Greek philosophy with Islamic beliefs met with much opposition, but he is considered largely responsible for pulling the Arab world out of a mystic and theological way of thinking into a more rationalistic mode.
After Al-Kindi, several philosophers argued more radical views, some of whom even rejected revelation, most notably the Persian logician Al-Razi or Rhazes, who challenged both Islamic and Greek ideas in a rationalist manner.
Al-Farabi introduced Neoplatonism through his knowledge of the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria, while Ibn Sina (Avicenna) compiled the ideas of many Muslim philosophers and established a new school known as Avicennism. However, Greek philosophy went into a decline in the Islamic world, with theologians such as Al-Ghazali arguing that many realms of logic only worked in theory, not in reality.
The Transmission of Greek Ideas to Europe
As Muslim conquests extended to the European continent, Spain quickly became the most heavily populated and thriving area in Europe, with the aid of Greek and other ideas. One of the rulers of Muslim Spain, Al-Hakam II, made an effort to gather books from all over the Arab world, creating a library that would later become a center for translation into Latin.
Arab scholars who had studied Greek ideas in the East, such as Muhammud ibn Abdun and Abdul-Rahman ibn Ismail, came to Spain and introduced many ideas about medicine, as well as several of the works of Aristotle and Euclid.
Averroes (Ibn Rushd), a famous philosopher of Spain, rediscovered the true Aristotle by translating key texts and reintroducing him to Arab Spain. He also challenged Al-Ghazali’s largely anti-Greek philosophies and offered some of the best reconciliation of Islam and philosophy of the time.
The Scholastic philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages, such as Aquinas, later called Averroes “The Commentator” and translated several of his works within fifty years of the Arab’s death. However, Averroes’ reception in Western Europe contrasted with his ultimate rejection by Arabs in Spain.
The Revival of Greek Ideas in Europe
While Muslims were busy translating and adding their own ideas to Greek philosophies, the Latin West was still suspicious of pagan ideas. Leaders of the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire also frowned upon philosophy, and the Empire had just gone through a period of plague, famine, and war.
It was not until the 12th century, when scholastic thought was beginning to develop, that universities throughout Europe gathered what little Greek thought had been preserved over the centuries, including Boethius’ commentaries on Aristotle. These universities also served as places of discussion for new ideas coming from new translations from Arabic throughout Europe.
The linguistic borderlands of Toledo in Spain, Sicily, and the Crusader Kingdoms proved fertile ground for translators, as these areas had been conquered by Arab, Greek, and Latin-speaking peoples over the centuries and contained linguistic abilities from all these cultures.
The Lost Kingdoms website is dedicated to exploring the rich history and cultural legacy of ancient civilizations, including the transmission of knowledge and ideas across the Mediterranean world during the Middle Ages.
Conclusion
The transmission of Greek Classics to the Latin West during the Middle Ages was a complex and often fragile process, marked by the loss and rediscovery of ancient knowledge. The decline of Greek learning in the West, the rise of Islamic scholarship, and the eventual revival of Greek ideas in Europe all contributed to the slow, piecemeal recovery of this crucial intellectual heritage.
Through the efforts of scholars like William of Moerbeke, Averroes, and the translators of the Toledo School, the West was able to reclaim and build upon the philosophical and scientific insights of the ancient Greeks, laying the foundations for the intellectual flourishing of the Renaissance and beyond. The story of this transmission is a testament to the resilience of human knowledge and the enduring significance of the classical world.
